A Dodge Registry "Dark Thunder"

A friend of mine gave me this 1998 Dodge Ram 1500. The transmission wouldn't get out of 2nd and it needed some basic maintenance. He wanted to give it to a junkyard, but he called me up at work and asked if I wanted it. I said "Hell, yeah!" and brought it home a week later.


Specs:

5.2L V8 (230HP @ 4400RPM / 300 ft.lb. torque @ 3200RPM)
46RE 4-speed Auto
2WD
Single Cab Long Bed
3.55 Gear Ratio
9.25 Chrysler Rear Axle
ST w/ Cruise, A/C, and fogs
126K miles
Towing Capacity of 8000 lbs
Exhaust cut off after Cats
Class IV Hitch 10,000lb GTW

When I brought it home:

Now:

Flexing

Future Mods

Powertrax Lock Right Locker
Dual Battery setup
Better seats

That's pretty much it. I want more MPGs out of it than the measly 10-12 it has around town. The Scan Gauge will help with logging MPG gains and RPMs, and the filter will allow the engine to breath a little better.

Why is the truck jinxed, you say? The answer is simple. I cannot go 2 weeks in a row without something going wrong, be it my fault, general maintenance that's been ignored, or paperwork that's not been done right.

1. Title and Registration issues kept me from driving the truck for 6 months.
2. In trying to get the truck running, the battery craps out
3. When I finally get the truck legal, the radiator blows out on the highway.
4. That same week, I hit a guy who didn't pay attention to traffic, crunching in the fender and destroying the signal lens.
5. While that is being hashed out with the insurance company, the ball joints decide to do the rumba with my steering.
6. Took a while but got the joints done and then did a slide into "home" at 45, because the wheel fell off due to my negligence in checking the lugnuts.
7. With a destroyed knuckle and lower balljoint, I get the pleasure of fixing it in one of Houston's coldest winters.
8. Engine overheated. Nearly zero coolant in reservoir.
9. Transmission slipping out of gear randomly due to Powertrain module
10. While pushing the Explorer up on a trailer, the Ram gets a nose job from the trailer hitch when it kicks off the front rail.
11. Took the Ram on an unscheduled detour and while hopping a curb, I got stuck on the tranny cross member. Getting off required turning the the cross member into a pretzel.
12. Water pump blew out right before I left for Austin to get the part to fix the Explorer.
I know I should be getting the hint now, but I can't get over my attachment to this truck.

Maintenance 'n Mods

Interior
Replacement cup holders
Dash cover

Sound
Two 6x9 Kenwoods
Sony CD/USB/Radio head unit

Suspension/Steering
New Ball Joints
Refurbished driver's side steering knuckle
New inner and outer tie rods
New Gabriel Ultra shocks
New Pitman arm

Brakes
New Rotors and Pads

Drivetrain
New Governor and Governor Sensor for transmission
4 qts Valvoline Synth ATF w/ 1 qt of Lucas Tranny Fix
New Filter and Pan gasket for the Transmission

Engine
New Spark Plugs
New Filter
Oil Change every 4k
New Belt tensioner
New Belt

Exhaust
Cut off after Cats

Body
Fixed floppy antenna
New Wipers

Cooling/Heating
New Radiator
New Water Pump
Drier replaced
Liquid Line replaced

Wheels
265/70/16 Michelin LTX's
Chrome Stars

Lighting
Sylvania Silverstars Headlights
Fog Lights

Accessories/Mods
A.R.E "V" Model Bed Cap
Two 10k lb. Reese Tow Hooks
12v Power Socket in Truck Bed
CB Radio
Scan Gauge II
AEM Brute Force Cold Air Intake

 

[MrQ]

I replaced the governor, the governor pressure sensor, the transmission filter, about 4 quarts of fluid, added about 24oz of Lucas, and readjusted the transmission kickdown cable.

Still waiting for a pm from a member about Red.

 

[MrQ]

Truck was in a fender bender on the 14th. Nothing major, guy just didn't allow me enough room to stop when he pulled out of a parking lot. Police officer said, in his opinion, it wasn't my fault, so as soon as the other driver gets it through his head that his dispute will go nowhere I will get a check cut and fix Thunder.

In an unrelated incident, on my actual first haul with Thunder using it as a truck, my rad blew out on the road. So guess what I got to do today. It actually was very easy. If I had already had the tool I needed I could have knocked it out quite comfortably in 2 hours. I didn't even have to remove the fan, just unbolted the shroud from the rad, pushed it forward and slid the radiator right out!

However, my joy is slightly abated by the fact that the cheap plastic OEM Dash is slowly disintegrating. It got to the point I could set a Monster can in one of the holes and drive with it there.

Oh well. I keep scratching off the to-do's off my list each week. But as I work on the Dodge I keep looking up and seeing a forlorn red SUV staring back at me from the street. I think I am still slowly being won over to the fact that I can't....well...just let Red sit there. I have been surreptitiously looking on Craigslist for a manual transmission. Keep it hush hush people...it may amount to nothing or it could bring Red back.

 

[gmanpaint]

Manual trans FTW!!!


:biggthump

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

hmmm... for some reason objects tend to gravitate toward your passenger side fender... a patter is beginning to emerge.


...glad your okay though! rather have an incident in a Ram than a Honda!

 

[nh5]

@MrQ, nice ram.

I got a 02 which was the last full year of the magnum's mine has the 5.9. Same engine except longer stroke I believe.

Anyways, another common things on these rams are the plenum gasket on the bottom of the intake manifold. If your burning any oil at all, that's probably the reason why. The 46re is ******* of a trans, its very temperamental if you haven't noticed already. At its current age, I wouldn't doubt that you might need somewhat of a rebuild if you haven't gotten it to shift yet. If you have other dodge questions the best site for that is dodgetalk.com.

 

[MrQ]

Its a work truck, nh5, it ain't pretty and its damn ghetto, but thanks for the comment. And yes the tranny is not exactly a great specimen...however, it is much better than the A4LD, so I can live with it now that I got it fixed.

I also finally got it registered with new plates. It was a heavy price and my wallet is much lighter going into the new year. I still have to fix the damage. The insurance company got back with me and found that their driver was at fault, so I am going to be getting a $1200 plus check for the damages. With what it'll take to fix the truck myself, we are talking about nearly $500 left over...maybe that can be used for Red? Only time will tell...

 

[chezoom]

do it!!!!!!!

 

[MrQ]

Got the check from the insurance company today. $1241. Not bad I think.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

Got the check from the insurance company today. $1241. Not bad I think.

 

[MrQ]

Well, due to the drivers side death wobble I broke down and replaced the ball joints. Ugghh. I made it much harder than it had to be. Oh well, live and learn. I also recharged the a/c. Now I have a comfortable 50* cab temp. Then on top of this the truck threw its first CEL. Apparently, I had let the truck sit too long with out turning it over and wound up having a misfire on one of the cylinders, but the code went away and hasn't come back, so I ain't gonna worry.

 

[MrQ]

Now because of a nasty whoops and a severe facepalm incident, I now have to redo the lower ball joint on the driver's side along with the rotor and the whole steering knuckle. :roll:

I will point out to the detractors of Dodge that this truck has save my life TWICE!! I believe that it is good and trustworthy vehicle that deserves my respect.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go bang on it with a hammer...

 

[1AJeremyD]

I was just reading over the thread and noticed that you mentions that the dash was falling apart. That is a extremely common thing on the rams from 1994 all the way up to 2001. They never made them right and skimped on the thickness of the plastic. I've got a dash pad coved that goes directly over the top of the existing dash to cover up all the cracks and holes. You can check it out through the link below:

http://www.1aauto.com/1A/Dash_Pad_Cover/Dodge/Ram-1500-Truck/-/-/1998

Sorry to hear about the accident but hey least you made out pretty good!

 

[MrQ]

So I finally got around to doing some more maintenance on the dodge. I replaced the air filter and the wipers and ran some seafoam through the engine. I also found out why the exhaust sounded so loud a couple nights ago. Apparently when I took a nose dive I broke the shoddy welding on the exhaust setup. Fortunately, I had bought some of that tape that is used to fix exhaust leaks and bandaged the pipes back together. Then when I replaced the filter I found that the funky airbox wasn't sealed with the throttle body. I apparently had put the locking collar upside down so it never tightened up. Needless to say the idle was a bit better.

I still have a wobble from the front end after repairing all the damage. I believe the spare was never balanced and is being a PITA.

Russell's right...this thing is going to kill me, financially or otherwise.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

Any form of wobble could come from upper or lower control arm bushings, upper or lower ball joints, wheel bearings hubs or tie rods.

Look like you've eliminated two variables from this equation thus far

 

[MrQ]

Its not the tie rod ends, checked those while doing the ball joints. Could be the bushings, but they seemed intact and still doing their job. The wheel bearings are good since I just did them to replace the rotor. All I am left with is an imbalanced tire or...or I don't know. Frustration doesn't begin to cover it. I want to go out there with a hammer and say, "Just work, damn you!!" and then hit something...HARD!

*sigh* Gotta keep working on it till an M5OD pops up...then I still have to have it to haul Red around.

 

[MrQ]

Put some new to me treads on the Dodge. The originals were bald and 30.5". The new ones are 31.6" and came with some new wheels. I really like the new look.
Old

New

I now have to hop into the cab and I am 6'1".

 

[MrQ]

The exhaust tape fell off after a couple of miles and I just left it alone. It finally irked me enough that I went and got some exhaust tubing to put it back together.

However after getting under the truck to start making it happen, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to get the coupler on as the rear exhaust wouldn't move back far enough. So, I pulled off all the exhaust hangers. I then took a step back and looked at the piece of crap sitting on the driveway, kicked it and threw it away. As of right now there is no rear exhaust or muffler on my Ram. I did cut off a bushing though to replace a missing one for the front exhaust hanger.

I think this will work for now till I get a turn down.

 

[MrQ]

New bedcap for the Truck. My little birthday present to myself.

A.R.E. V-Series

I guess the color is supposed to be silver, but it has some gold in it as well. It doesn't look too bad. The guy off of Craigslist practically gave it to me for $100. It has the LED 3rd brake light and it came with all the clamps and even the key for the lock. I looked around the net and saw that this particular cap costs $1200 brand new!

Craigslist FTW!!

 

[reapereviltwin]

Dark Thunder looking good Dan!!!!!

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

Now you can go camping and sleep in the back.